Since 1919
The Emory Wheel
Emory University’s Independent Student Newspaper
Volume 100, Issue 2
Printed Every Wednesday
Wednesday, September 12, 2018
STUDENT HEALTH
LEGISLATURE
Hand-Foot-and-Mouth SGA Exec Stops Ma’s Investigation Disease Hits Emory By Madison BoBer Multimedia Editor
Ten Cases Reported in SAE, ATO, Woodruff Residential By Matthew Barrett Contributing Writer Several students living in the Sigma AlSeveral students living in the Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) fraternity house, Alpha Tau Omega (ATO) fraternity house and Woodruff Residential Center have contracted hand-footand-mouth disease (HFMD). Emory University Student Health Services (EUSHS) received 10 cases between Aug. 29 and Sept. 5. EUSHS has not received any new cases in the outbreak as of Monday, according to EUSHS Executive Director Sharon Rabinovitz. Senior Director of Housing Operations Elaine Turner said her office and Building and Residential Services (BRS) have performed “extensive cleaning and disinfection processes” in the affected buildings. Cleaning efforts have mainly been
focused in the SAE house but also in the ATO house and Woodruff Residential Center, according to Center for Emergency Preparedness and Response (CEPAR) Senior Administrator Sam Shartar. Emory reported the outbreak to the Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) on Sept. 7, according to DPH Director of Communications Nancy Nydam. The disease is often contracted in daycare centers because children share utensils, Rabinovitz said. The presence of the virus on college campuses has increased recently because students engage in similar behaviors, like kissing or sharing drinking cups, she added. “We don’t know if the strain is changing, we don’t know exactly why this is happening, but this is definitely something we’re seeing more often in
See HFMD, Page 5
Student Government Association (SGA) President Dwight Ma (17Ox, 19C)’s investigation into College Council (CC) spending was terminated in a “near-unanimous” vote by his executive board over the summer, according to SGA VP of Communications Tiffany Haas (19C). Ma announced the investigation in a July 22 undergraduate-wide email,
saying two CC “whistle blowers” and other students expressed concern over high administrative expenses and disproportionate club funding appropriation, the Wheel previously reported. Ma declined to provide the students’ names and refused to provide public CC spending budgets to the Wheel. Ma did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this story. Except for SGA VP of Finance Paul Park (17Ox, 19B), Ma’s eight-member executive board was not informed of the investigation until after he sent the
email, according to Haas. Four days after his announcement to the undergraduate student body, the executive board voted to shut down the probe, Haas said. “We stopped the investigation because [Ma] essentially wanted an audit of CC’s finances, which we did not believe was the job of SGA — that’s something that CC should be doing internally,” Haas said. Park declined to comment.
See vOTe, Page 4
Matthew Barrett/ContriButing
SGA President Dwight Ma (17Ox, 19C)’s (center) investigation into College Council for alleged overspending was shut down by his executive board over the summer.
CURRICULUM
STUDENT GOVERNMENT
Philosophy Dept. Creates New Major SGA Talks Elections By Matthew Barrett Contributing Writer The Department of Philosophy has developed a new philosophy, politics and law major that is aimed toward students interested in pursuing careers in law or politics, according to Philosophy Department Chair John Lysaker. The major requires students to complete 34 credit hours of core and
elective courses. Required classes including Phil 110: Introduction to Logic, Phil 220: History of Political Philosophy, Phil 300: Metaphysics and Epistemology, Phil: 321: Philosophy of Law and a capstone seminar on philosophy, politics and law. Of the five elective courses, students must take two nonphilosophy electives on politics and law, respectively. The major was designed with
prospective law school students in mind. “A lot of philosophy majors already are interested in going to law school ... so we wanted to structure the major somewhat to better prepare them,” Lysaker said. Undergraduate students who express interest in pursuing a legal career do not have specific majors they are required to pursue to later
See MAjOr, Page 5
UNIVERSITY
Madison BoBer/MultiMedia editor
Top administrators and professors discuss the University’s new strategic framework on Sept. 5.
See Univ., Page 4
NEWS Emory rEmains at
no. 21 in U.s. nEws CollEgE rankings ... PAGE 4 P
OP-ED rankEd 21 on U.s. A&E nEw Horror Film
Reform Proposal
By Belicia rodriguez Senior Staff Writer The 52nd legislature of the Student Government Association (SGA) unanimously confirmed a new Constitutional Council chief justice and three associate justices on Monday night. SGA also discussed a bill to establish an Elections Reform Commission, which was in first readings. Owen Mattocks (20C) was confirmed as chief justice of the Constitutional Council, the highest judicial body in student government. Mattocks served as an associate justice during the 2017-2018 school year. The chief justice serves a one-year, nonrenewable term, according to SGA’s website. Jane Wang (22C), Sam Branson (20C) and Matthew Ribel (19C) were confirmed as associate justices of the Constitutional Council. Associate justices serve for enrollment-long periods, SGA’s website said. SGA President Dwight Ma (17Ox, 19C) and legislators did not discuss why they selected and approved the candidates. SGA Chief of Staff Ben Palmer (18Ox, 20C) and College Council (CC) Chief of Staff Jacob Hicks (18Ox, 20C) introduced Bill 52sl27, which establishes an Emory Elections Reform
EMORY LIFE proF.
Commission. According to the bill, which is scheduled for a vote next week, the commission would be created in response to alleged procedural problems with the Spring 2018 student government elections. The committee’s main function would be to review the Elections Code and recommend changes to the SGA legislature by the end of the semester. The committee would be composed of at least one SGA legislator and one student from each divisional council. Divisional council members would be selected by their respective president, and students could apply via an application. Hicks said it was not “entirely fair” to blame the problems from the 2018 SGA elections on the Elections Board. “There are a lot of issues with the Code itself,” Hicks said. “It’s really long. It’s really convoluted, and I think it’s fair to say that most candidates don’t fully understand all the procedures in it, and it’s not necessarily fair to ask them to.” Hicks added that the Code has some “out-of-date things” and “a number of amendments made to the document that to my understanding never actually [have] been incorporated.”
See MATTOCkS, Page 5
SPORTS VolEyball
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